The Alien franchise is one of the most popular and enduring science-fiction franchises of all time and expertly blends horror and sci-fi action into something that is as fresh today as it was in 1979. As with any franchise that has been around for nearly 40 years, the Alien franchise has developed a convoluted continuity.
Things start off simple enough with the first three movies, Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3 all following one another, but then things get a bit more tricky as the release order diverges from the chronological order. The widely panned Prometheus is a prequel to Alien, taking place hundreds of years before the first film, with Alien: Covenant serving as a sequel to Prometheus.
If we leave the relatively safe confines of the main cinematic universe then things get even more convoluted as we consider the position of the games, Alien: Colonial Marines and Alien: Isolation. Colonial Marines takes place after the events of Alien 3. Isolation is set between Alien and Aliens, directed by Ridley Scott.
'Predator' Crossovers
One of the neat things about the Alien franchise is that it is one of the earliest examples of a shared universe thanks to its crossovers with the Predator franchise. What started as a mere Easter egg in Predator 2 became a shared universe with the release of Alien vs. Predator.
Of course, this makes the timeline a bit more confusing as it is important to note the placement of the Predator films, but luckily, the Predator franchise isn't as convoluted as Alien and has not fallen into the prequel trap.The position of 2010's Predators and Alien vs. Predator are left a bit vague, but we know they take place after Predator 2 though it is unclear where they fall in relation to one another.
Chronological Order
• Predator
• Predator 2
• Predators
• Alien vs. Predator
• Aliens vs. Predators: Requiem
• Prometheus
• Covenant
• Alien
• Alien: Isolation
• Aliens
• Alien 3
• Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Alien: Resurrection
Of course, all that being said, you could always take the easy route and watch the movies in the order that they were released. For the purposes of this list, we'll leave the games off the list since one of them is rather poor and they don't really impact the movies aside from adding some background lore.
Release Order
• Alien
• Aliens
• Predator
• Predator 2
• Alien 3
• Alien: Resurrection
• Alien vs. Predator
• Aliens vs. Predators: Requiem
• Predators
• Prometheus
• Covenant
